


I'll carry you home

by lavenderlotion



Series: Short, Sweet, SFW Saturday [19]
Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Charles Xavier in a Wheelchair, Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Light Angst, M/M, Mutant Husbands, Nightmares, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-25 17:21:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22499731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavenderlotion/pseuds/lavenderlotion
Summary: Erik was in the midst of a gruelling nightmare, which must have been what pulled Charles from his sleep.Oh, my love,Charles thought, as he was assaulted with the visuals playing out through Erik’s mind.
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Series: Short, Sweet, SFW Saturday [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1451083
Comments: 15
Kudos: 118





	I'll carry you home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [flightinflame](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/gifts), [KuhakuE](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KuhakuE/gifts).



> For the prompt: _"CUDDLES" & "FOR CHERIK"_

Charles was pulled from sleep by a violent poke at his psyche. Grumbling, he pushed himself onto his elbows as his mind slowly came to consciousness. It was a slow rise from the very deep sleep he‘d been in; his mind latched onto the thought pattern before Charles was even fully awake. The mind drew him in readily and Charles slipped through familiar thoughts with an ease born from how much time he had spent in this very mind. 

Erik was in the midst of a gruelling nightmare, which must have been what pulled Charles from his sleep.  _ Oh, my love, _ Charles thought, as he was assaulted with the visuals playing out through Erik’s mind. His husband had suffered so, so much, that Charles’ heart often ached for him. This was one of those times, when Charles was forced to bear witness to the horrible,  _ horrible _ reality of his husband’s past. 

His lover had suffered so much at the hands of others over the years. The things that Erik had been through were horrifying. That night in the water, Charles had mended their minds together so thoroughly that it felt like he’d  _ lived _ Erik’s life and he knew just how badly his memories haunted his dreams now that he slept deeply enough to experience them. 

For the first few years of them being together, Erik had slept stock-still through the night, only a breath away from being awake and constantly ready to move. It had been a habit learned during his many years on the run, with the foundations instilled upon him as a child who had never known when it was safe to sleep. In the first few weeks of their relationship, back when they had all been training and ending Shaw was not yet a reality, Charles hadn’t even been able to shift during the night without it waking Erik and running him from bed. 

Over the years, Erik had begun to sleep deeper, for longer, until they could go a whole night without something waking Erik. But, with that deeper sleep came horrifying nightmares of things Erik had been through years ago, reminders of a past  _ anyone _ would rather forget. The dreams varied of what they were about, though the worst ones were the nights where he dreamt of his early years with Shaw. 

Those nights were the nights that Erik reached out to him, his mind calling out desperately for Charles. It always woke him from sleep and, if it was bad enough, woke Erik as well. Blearily, Charles looked over and found that Erik was still sleeping, but by the hurried path of his thoughts, it was clear he wouldn’t be asleep for much longer. 

Slowly, Charles took stock of where he was within Erik’s thoughts. Without realizing it, he’d been pulled quite deeply into Erik’s mind. Charles would always be eager to help his husband in any way that he needed it, so it only made sense he was already so deeply entrenched in his lover’s thoughts. 

Erik was dreaming of one of the nights shortly after his mother’s death during a time when Shaw had locked him away in a metal room and not let Erik out until he was able to get himself out. Charles knew, both from melding their minds together and softly whispered confessions over the years, that it had taken Erik  _ weeks _ to get out of that room. 

It wasn’t the first time Erik’d had this particular nightmare. Still, it broke Charles’ heart just as much as it had that first night, and he flopped back onto the bed, even as his mind went to work. Pulling Erik from his sleep wasn’t something Charles often favoured doing, for it always ended with Erik waking disoriented and disgruntled, sometimes unable to tell that his dream had ended and that he was safe. 

So instead of just waking Erik from his dream, he slipped himself into the dream. Erik, a young boy here, was sitting curled up in the centre of a dark, metal room. His mutation hadn’t even settled enough for his base sense of metal, so he was all but senseless. He was shaking badly even as he curled tighter into a ball, arms wrapped tightly around his legs and keeping himself small. 

“Hello,” Charles whispered to the quivering boy. He looked up sharply, the very beginnings of a fight in his eyes that would stay with him for decades to come. “My name is Charles.”

“I know,” Erik told him softly, though the fear didn’t leave his eyes right away. “I want my Momma.”

Charles’ chest ached. He tried for a smile and hoped it didn’t look too forced. Charles could see himself as if he were watching the scene unfold as a spectator, and his mind had crafted a much younger version of Charles to be the one greeting this child-version of his husband. He held out his hand, and when Erik finally reached out and grabbed it, their fingers fit together just as well as they did in reality and had for several decades. 

Charles didn’t know if it was a trick of his mind or if they really had fit together their whole lives—but he was a romantic at heart and he would take this comfort during something so dark. 

“May I give you a hug?” Charles asked, and Erik quickly nodded his head as tears began to fall down his face. Charles shushed him softly, wrapping him up in his arms as the wall behind them broke apart to let a brilliant light stream into the room. 

As the light got brighter, Charles slowly pulled from Erik’s mind and urged his husband toward consciousness. The weight in his arms grew heavier and longer until it was clear that Erik was laid out over him in their bed, Charles’ arms wrapped tightly around his back and Erik’s hands snug between Charles’ body and their mattress. It had been simple work to have Erik’s body move while they were still within the dream, and Erik took a gasping breath when he finally woke. 

“Charles?” Erik slurred, his lips brushing over Charles’ neck where his head was tucked. Charles hummed in response, rubbing a hand up and down Erik’s back in slow strokes. “Scheisse, Charles, I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about, my love,” Charles told him easily, turning his head so he could buss a kiss to Erik’s temple. “I’m glad I was able to help you.”

Erik snorted and hugged Charles tighter before he said, “Liebling, you help me more than you could  _ ever _ realize.”

“Oh, I have some idea,” Charles told him lightly, “I married you, after all. And you know I’m quite a selfish man.”

“Nothing selfish about you,” Erik chided him, but he still held Charles tighter and then shifted until he was more comfortably laid out over Charles’ chest. They couldn’t sleep a whole night like this, not with how Charles needed to adjust himself occasionally, but it would be nice as they both came down from the dream. “Ich liebe dich.”

“I love you too, Erik,” Charles told him softly, slowly petting down Erik’s back until the man’s breathing evened out with sleep and then quickly following him under. 

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi to me on [tumblr](https://lavender-lotion.tumblr.com/)!  
> comments and kudos are much appreciated!


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